Border fire 60 percent contained

A fire that scorched 150 acres in a rural area near Campo at the U.S.-Mexico border was 60 percent contained Friday morning and expected to be fully contained by evening, authorities said.

The fire, dubbed Border Fire, crossed into the U.S. side of the international boundary about 9:15 a.m. Thursday after charring roughly 600 acres in Baja California since Wednesday, according to Cal Fire.

There were no reports of threatened or damaged structures on the U.S. side of the border. It was not immediately clear whether damage occurred south of the border.

Cal Fire sent eight ground crews, four air tankers and three helicopters to beat back the flames. Assisting in the effort were personnel from Heartland Fire & Rescue, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service.

The spread of the fire was initially stopped by mid-afternoon Thursday but unexpected wind gusts caused flames to cross the containment line by early evening, Cal Fire spokeswoman Roxanne Provaznik said.

By 6:40 p.m. Thursday, the winds had diminished and the fire’s spread was once again slowed, she said. Between early Thursday evening and 7:30 a.m., containment increased from just 10 percent to 60 percent.